laptop for a 12 year old

just wondered if anyone could suggest a 'first ever' laptop for my girls birthday.... if i stick to £350 budget am i asking for trouble or should it do the job, ie, web cam, homework, sims and the like? should i go for 2G memory, i am a bit in the dark shall we say!! thanks

i think £350 is a good price for a normal laptop for anyone thats just using it for socialising.
This is a great laptop for the money:
It meets all your requirements,2GB should be enough for just general usage if not you can always buy extra ram so you have 4GB.
Also its a dual core and it has one of the best intergrated graphics chip for laptops so she can probably enjoy playing maybe sims 3 on it.
The laptop looks lovely too but not a girls colour but hey its a laptop best bang of the buck i have seen so far.http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179694

exactly what i mean i can't see any possibility a netbook running sims 3 at a steady frame rate.
@DRDNA the laptop i recommend is perfect choice.

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The suggestion you made has crappy integrated graphics. I will admit I have no suggestion otherwise since I don't shop in overpriced overseas distributors though. I just think Sims 3 might be a high bar for the price range.

i think £350 is a good price for a normal laptop for anyone thats just using it for socialising.
This is a great laptop for the money:
It meets all your requirements,2GB should be enough for just general usage if not you can always buy extra ram so you have 4GB.
Also its a dual core and it has one of the best intergrated graphics chip for laptops so she can probably enjoy playing maybe sims 3 on it.
The laptop looks lovely too but not a girls colour but hey its a laptop best bang of the buck i have seen so far.http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179694

Yeah and thats why kids plus a webcam equals trouble on the internet sometimes. I have heard from my GF's little sister that girls do things they shouldn't over webcam at early ages if you know what I mean. They really regret it later.

The suggestion you made has crappy integrated graphics. I will admit I have no suggestion otherwise since I don't shop in overpriced overseas distributors though. I just think Sims 3 might be a high bar for the price range.

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crappy??? this intergrated graphics chip is almost as good as a dedicated laptop graphics chip.

It can play Left 4 Dead@1280x800 with medium settings no AA and get 40+fps.
It can also play Killing Floor@1280x800 at high settings and get over 40FPS and thats something thats pretty good for a intergrated.
It played Battlefield 2 at 1024x768 with high settings smoothly at high settings.
It plays Counter Strike Source at 1280x800 at medium-high settings and get 40+fps.

And thats coming from experience since my laptop has that intergrated graphics card.

well thanks for all the replies, i live in N.Ireland, would you believe me if i told you all that i have made my daughter wait 12 to 18 months longer than all,yes all, of her friends, i agree that there is no need for kids to have laptops, but she is studious, intelligent and has been made aware many times of the perils of the computer, i wil have access to laptop at any time and any of her passwords will be given on demand to me to check material and she is fully aware of this, lastly, she knows that i will enter her room at any given time whilst she is using laptop..... she accepts these things( probably unwillingly!!) she certainly needs access to a computer as do i and my wife and my son, so one pc in the house is a strain.
ps. this sims3 sounds like a real bind for a computer from what you guys are saying??

+1 to Kurosagi. 3200 is not as weak as any integrated gfx card. Granted, its not powerful, but its still one of the best integrated options. booner, if you can speak to her, then ask her whether she is fine with a weaker system that will cost a lot less.

the HP compaq will do all her needs perfectly she probably won't need to get another machine for good 2 years or more since it do all her general needs.
Not to mention maybe if she does some light gaming and some bit of media work,webcam be good too with that intergrated,like hell its better than crappy intel accelerators by far.

I strongly recommend going for the laptop i posted its bang for the buck.

yea i def second the no webcam thing. The only reason i could think a webcam is useful is presentations or something with a job, having a bf/gf in a long distance relationship. But at 12 neither of those is relevant.

Go with the laptop, netbooks are poop for longevity right now, that lappy will last alot longer.

just wondered if anyone could suggest a 'first ever' laptop for my girls birthday.... if i stick to £350 budget am i asking for trouble or should it do the job, ie, web cam, homework, sims and the like? should i go for 2G memory, i am a bit in the dark shall we say!! thanks

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I always use TESCO for my laptops believe it or not. They sell some nice ACERs at good prices.....or you could get her a Netbook for £200

The Acer Ferrari One. This one is a bit more expensive and less performant (the HD3200 IGP is underclocked and the dual-core CPU is only @ 1.2GHz).
However it's a 11,6" ultra-thin laptop. It's a lot smaller and lighter, which could be more suited for a 12 year old girl. The vibrant red colour should also make it more likeable than a black one, for a child. Plus, the battery life is quite decent (around 3.5 - 4 hours) and it's still a lot faster than any Atom netbook.

Although the specs are similar from kurosagi01's suggestion, this laptop has a new, Phenom II based cpu which should be a bit faster and provide more battery life. It also has a slightly faster and newer IGP from AMD, the HD4200.

crappy??? this intergrated graphics chip is almost as good as a dedicated laptop graphics chip.
And thats coming from experience since my laptop has that intergrated graphics card.

So i disagree with you about the ATI HD3200 being rubbish.

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I used the HD 3200 shortly after launch and it is designed for HD video but it is not good for gaming. It does great compared to basic Intel integrated graphics found in outdated chipsets though. HD 3200 scales with what CPU it is coupled with to a point, but it is hardly a gaming chipset. It can run Sims 3 fine at low resolution and is low power consumption but its hardly a gaming chipset.

Saying it is "almost as good as a dedicated laptop graphics chip" is very subjective. I said it was crappy integrated graphics because by gaming standards of this website it is. Just trying to explain where I am coming from. uk2online might agree with you on those awesome low end cards though.

BTW I agree its probably the best option he has in that price range, I just wish there was something better in that range for him to choose from. Laptop GPU's are ridiculously expensive for such weak specs thanks to the temperature and power consumption requirements of the mobile market.